The power plants based on renewable sources face various acceptance difficulties mainly due to high initial costs and low overall efficiencies. A way to improve performance of these systems is to utilize more than one type of source of energy chosen to provide some degree of complementarity. An interesting, albeit improbable, combination is obtained using hydroelectric and photovoltaic energy, taking advantage of the complementarity between these two types of sources coupled to reservoir and/or battery storage. This paper discusses energy complementarity in time and proposes a numerical dimensionless index, evaluating this energy complementarity between two types of energy sources, in the same or in different locations, or between two sources of the same type in different locations. In the end, the results of the application of this index to the solar and water availabilities over the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil, is presented in the form of maps. r

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The complementarity of energy resources used in hybrid power generation can result in optimization of power capacity and reservation capabilities. This article is dedicated to the study of hybrid hydro PV systems. The goal is to establish the relationship between system performance and complementarity of energy resources. The study was carried out with computer simulations based on a method that uses ideal functions developed to describe the energy resources and determines a limit of performance. The results confirm expectations that performance, as measured by the total time of failure to meet demand, will be better as energy resources are complementary. Charts relating energy complementarity with failures are presented. The subsequent research work shall proceed to at least two different phases. In the first one, the method exposed in the present work shall be applied to real data and compared to the operation of existing hybrid plants. In the second phase, results shall be confronted with design parameters of hydro PV plants based on complementary resources. A next stage would be the enlargement of the method applied in this work for systems based on other energy resources, such as wind energy and ocean wave energy.

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